So my parents vow renewal came and went. We had been planning it for months and it was over in a flash. It was an incredibly special night for my family, one that I will always remember and forever cherish. I have said throughout this process that it has been such an amazing experience for me to plan this for my parents because it put me in the shoes of my brides. I got to go on all of the appointments, select the colors, flowers, music, invites. I got to experience the day like one of my brides does and it flew by. Obviously owning a wedding videography company I am such a believer in a wedding film to document your day but now more than ever because I got to see first hand the moments that would have been lost without a video. The speeches, the tears, the hugs, the emotion, my daughter taking her shoes of mid ceremony and throwing them. It was such an incredible day that thankfully we will be able to live over and over again. Congratulations to my mom and dad for 40 years of marriage. I hope that your vow renewal was the fairytale wedding you always dreamed of. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this day and making this dream come true for you. Here is a teaser of what’s to come with your wedding film!!

The other part of my parents day that was so amazing were the vendors we worked with who made this event come to life. I am forever grateful for their generosity, talents, skill and professionalism. You made their day truly unforgettable!!

Live Love Photography

SKM Entertainment

Couture Candy Co.

Tri-Rentals

Makeup: Corinna Cooke

Hair: Amanda Byers

Celebrations In Paper

Petal Pusher

A Wedding 40 Years In The Making from Serendipity Videography on Vimeo.

We had the opportunity to work with Kimberly Jarman Photography and her girls Jenny, Mary and Kimberly B. They are awesome photographers and great to work with…they are also great dancers!!!

Kimberly Jarman Photography(I mean Dance studio) from Serendipity Videography on Vimeo.

Ajay and Roshen had quite possibly one of the most spectacular, intense, busy, detailed weddings we have ever shot. It was a 2 day wedding celebration that was both a Catholic ceremony as well as an Indian ceremony. The list of vendors who made this event possible is literally a mile long. I have to commend Ajay and Roshen for putting this all together because as if the planning was not overwhelming enough Ajay and Roshen do not live here and in fact Roshen was finishing up law school right at the time of the wedding. Then to top it off planning a 4 day wedding meant 2 totally different receptions with different color schemes and themes. There were just sooooo many details!! How she did not meltdown and turn into bridezilla I will never know. In fact she was as pleasant as could be and totally calm, cool and collected throughout the process. She will for sure make an excellent lawyer because she was great under pressure. Ajay and Roshen are an adorable couple. They are sarcastic and fun and constantly challenge each other but you will see in the Love Story part of their wedding film that there is total respect and adoration of one another. You can tell that they are going to be great together and have a long and happy marriage.

Here is the mile long list of vendors that made this celebration truly fabulous:

St. Mary’s Basilica

Foothills Golf Club

Villa Siena

Events Your Way

Fifth Ave Events

BQ Photography

Tri-Rentals

Bon Cuisine Catering

Blume

SKM Entertainment

Saffron Indian Bistro

DJ: Isaac Jensen

Ajay & Roshen a week of Marriage from Serendipity Videography on Vimeo.

This is installment #3 of the Vendors Corner and this post is going to focus on working smart. As a wedding vendor there just aren’t enough hours in the day especially as a Wedding Videographer. The majority of our work is done after the wedding day and the editing takes sooooo long that we are constantly working on our efficiency and asking ourselves “Are we working smart?” and evaluating our workflow. As a small business we don’t have the millions to invest in hiring a staff of 50 so we have to be very strategic in our workflow. If you are that vendor who is a “one man band”? Don’t be. Being a “one man band” is going to be to the detriment of growing your business and you won’t be where you want or need to be in 5 years. In fact you will be burnt out and lose your passion because you aren’t working smart. I often have people say to me “Serendipity has grown so quickly in the 5 years you have been in business. How did you do it?” One of the key elements to our growth is that we were never a one man band. There has always been Jeff and I and then we built from there. We both have our own skill set and we each own a different side of the business and don’t do much crossover into each others side. This strategy has not only been good for business but led to a happy and healthy marriage since we live together and work together.

This picture says everything about us and is a perfect depiction of us as business partners and as husband and wife. Jeff is calm, cool, collected and laid back. I am a spazz and have an insane amount of enthusiasm and energy and I talk with my hands. Jeff is the creative genius. He is a typical artist who writes notes on tiny pieces of paper and leaves them somewhere then can’t understand why he can’t find them. He is the Director of Videography and Editing and handles all of the shooting, editing and equipment for Serendipity. He is responsible for our product and what it looks like. I am the business women. I handle all of the sales, marketing, client relations, vendor relations, and I run the joint. I love lists, structure, spreadsheets and sales projections. If Jeff were in charge of this element of our business we would be bankrupt in 5 to 7 minutes. Then we have an assistant and 2 full time editors and an intern. Each person has their role in our workflow and is vital to our growth. It took us a while to get to this point of having all of these people and quite frankly we held off on hiring people for a long time because we didn’t think we could afford it. Then one night it was around midnight we were working 7 days a week exhausted and we stared at each other and said “When is this owning your own business thing going to pay off?” It was then that we realized we may think that we can’t afford it financially but our brand can’t afford to not have more help. We were both being torn in so many directions and I didn’t want to make it to this level only to implode from the inside. I didn’t want to be known as the business that used to be great but since they got so busy their service really stinks and their product went to pot. Since we have expanded this last year our product has been taken to a new level our workflow is streamlined and we each have our role and Jeff and I have a life outside of Serendipity for the first time since we got started 5 years ago.

So how do you do this on limited resources? Well due to the recession there is no shortage of labor or people looking to break into the wedding business. We have found some of our best talent through our internship program that has pulled college graduates from both the ASU Walter Cronkite School as well as the ASU School of Theatre and Film. Another untapped resource is stay at home moms who are looking to get out for a few hours a week. These women are educated and have no interest in becoming your competition so they are awesome. The point of this post is that as a wedding vendor you need to focus on what you are best at and bring in some help to handle the things that you are not so great at so that you can continue to perfect your craft. Many wedding vendors are the artist, the bookkeeper, the sales person and the assistant.  Don’t torpedo your efforts and what you have built by not being able to return emails, return calls, finish quotes, etc. The competition is fierce out there so your business simply can not afford to not bring it’s “A” game in all elements of the business.

Lacey and Scott were our first wedding of our spring season. They got married at the Brophy Chapel and had their reception at the hip and chic Firesky Resort and Spa in Scottsdale. My favorite thing about their wedding is the color scheme! Lacey chose red, black, white and damask as her colors, and it packed a punch! The bride also wore sassy red pumps which is one of my favorite trends that we are seeing right now. Gone are the days of ivory or white heels. Here come sassy pumps in sassy colors!! One other detail that rocked was their cake! It was absolutely fantastic and almost too pretty to eat! Mind you I said “almost”…. Lacey and Scott had the Groove Merchants as their reception entertainment and as always they were a big hit! Everyone was busy dancing and having a blast on the dance floor! Congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank You for letting us be a part of your special day!

We also had the great pleasure of working with these vendors at Lacey and Scott’s Wedding:

Cheswick Photography

Fiori Floral

Lacey & Scott at The Firesky Resort from Serendipity Videography on Vimeo.